Pain
by JimVan
Summary: A horrible sickness, a dreadful mystery, and a crippling sacrifice. All for her. KnucklesXRouge


Disclaimer: I absolutely, positively, and inarguably do not own Sonic the Hedgehog. I definitely, infinitely, and unquestionably do no own any of the affiliated series or characters. They are completely, wholly, and undoubtedly the property of Sega. I think someone switched my medication again…

**Author:** Hey there, Sonic fans. It's that weirdo Jim'Van here, live from expatriate life on the other side of the globe. (**Chinh:** He always does this when he breaks into a new series of fics…) Mental note: put some laxatives in her breakfast. Anyways, well, on with the fic, then. Remember, this is my first Sonic fic, so I welcome all reviews, even criticism. Ever since Sonic the Hedgehog 2, I've tried to keep up with all the series with varying degrees of success. I hope this doesn't disappoint.

* * *

Pain

The blue hedgehog sat sleepy-eyed after his night long vigil against the wall. He had slumped so low in his stool that all toes and heels of his sneakers hit the floor, his back and quills were lodged in the stool's seat, and his head rested against the wall. A sad, tired frown creased his face, but he didn't dare sleep.

Next to him was an upright red echidna, seated strongly and worriedly in his chair. Unlike his blue counterpart, he did not seem in the least bit tired. His face was a study in expressionless as he gazed at the object of their vigil, but anyone who knew Knuckles the Echidna well enough would realize the brain-grinding fear and turmoil inside his skull from the hard set of his jaw.

Sonic the Hedgehog's head began to loll sideways and, without warning, fell into Knuckles' lap as sleepiness began to take control.

One would normally expect the hot-tempered red guardian of the Master Emerald to immediately explode with rage at Sonic's invasion of his personal space (and to slam a spiked fist into Sonic's skull for physical contact), but Knuckles knew this was neither the time nor place for such childishness. Before them was something far more important.

Instead, he merely pushed Sonic's head back and tapped him on the shoulder, clumsily as he lacked separate digits, startling Sonic out of his momentary lapse. He jerked his head up and stared sideways at Knuckles through red-rimmed, half-open eyes.

"Go to bed, Sonic…" Knuckles said quietly, not taking his eyes away from his charge. "I've got it."

Sonic stood up slowly, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand. "You sure, buddy?" he asked weakly.

Knuckles nodded, and Sonic turned and began to walk away, muttering that he'd send Amy to relieve him after she woke up. Knuckles neither seemed to hear him nor to care. He was lost in his own thoughts. Sonic walked away, too tired even to run, stopping briefly to stare at their charge for a moment, before sighing, shaking his head, and trudging on.

Knuckles' eyes remained fixed on the bed in front of him. If there was ever anything that would have convinced him to stop guarding the Master Emerald for some time, this was it. He had left the Angel Island in the Tornado from the moment he had heard the news from Tails' mouth.

Rouge was sick.

She was worse than sick.

She lay before him in the bed, still twitching and moaning occasionally in her delirium. Every now and then she would begin to shiver and then to scream in agony as the seizures began. Long fits of unbearable pain had only been the beginning. She now suffered from skin irritation and boils, and her fur had begun to drop out in handfuls. She had not slept in days and her eyes were rimmed with red and set within deep black rings. There were still untidy smudges all over her face where her constant sweating had loosened her makeup.

Knuckles had run in through the entrance a couple of hours after Sonic and the others had found her, and Tails had only just managed to get the door to his workshop open before Knuckles broke it down. He had seized her hand and held it tightly only to have her scream in agony and blacken his eye with her thrashing.

But the worst was still yet to come. Now, she could not even bear the feel of sheets over her body, and began to scream and thrash in delirium whenever someone touched her in the slightest. She had soiled the bedclothes many times, and when Tails tried to hook up an IV to her to try to save her from dehydration, her thrashing knocked the poor fox across the room.

Knuckles had interrogated everyone endlessly, but they didn't know any more than he did. Sonic and Tails had just found her unconscious outside Tails' workshop one day, just lying there outside the door without any sign of it beforehand. Amy Rose, Cream the Rabbit, and Cheese the Chao had all turned up the moment they heard what was going on. But no-one seemed to have any clue why Rouge was suffering so badly or how to help. Tails and Sonic had been all for sending her to a hospital, but they couldn't: because the last few hospitals nearby had been destroyed during the alien invasion, and because Rouge simply couldn't be budged for fear she would die of shock from the pain.

Everyone had been doing their best to help in their own way. Tails had been bending all of his intelligence into finding the cause and the cure for Rouge's condition, but sadly, he was not so much of a medical prodigy as he was a mechanics genius. He had tried shots of morphine, anesthetics, and even, though it had been dangerous, neuronal inhibitor drugs to try and alleviate Rouge's pain, but nothing just seemed to work. Amy and Cream had been tending to her and trying not to hurt her too much when they cleaned up the bed and tried to wash the bat when she was filthy. Sonic and Knuckles had watched over her constantly at all other times, doing their best restrain her and stop her from hurting herself during her fits. Knuckles had gazed for hours on end into her unseeing eyes whenever they were open, and whispered into her ear softly "I'm here, Rouge…"

The others had seen him, but Knuckles was beyond caring. He was upset, distressed, and furious with himself because all he could do, like the others, was sit back and wait for her to die.

But she didn't die.

Knuckles and the others had been tending to her hopelessly for more than a week, and still Rouge lay in her painful delirium. Her skin was sunken and shriveled, and her eyes were bloodshot to almost complete redness. Her fur was almost gone, and now she was so weak and lifeless that she could barely twitch her wings, or do little besides scream when she felt pain.

So all they could do was wait.

Wait and watch her agony. A dozen doctors came and took scans, tests, and samples, and when they could not find what was causing it, they tried all sorts of methods, but nothing seemed to work. Even Dr. Milligan, the highest-ranking doctor from the local hospital, was mystified as to Rouge's condition, but promised he would keep trying.

Rouge's bedsores then swelled and burst, soiling her makeshift bed, while her screams of agony returned with a vengeance. Slowly, Knuckles and the others began to despair. At times, though no-one spoke it aloud, they find themselves wishing she would die, so that the pain, both hers and theirs, would end.

But…she did not die.

Eventually, it became unbearable for the fragile young Cream, who hid away from Rogue with her chao, Cheese, crying her eyes out and refusing to tend to her any longer, much to Knuckles' chagrin. But he could hardly blame her: Amy was close to that point herself, and he could sense that Sonic and Tails were also starting to despair.

Luckily enough, they had visitors, full of fresh spirit, who tried everything they could think of. The Chaotix team had hurried over as soon as they heard what was going on, but Knuckles was worried that their 'healing' would actually do more harm than good. He had to swat out all of Espio's sticks of 'heavenly essence' before Rouge suffered from asphyxiation instead. Vector had made a dozen phone calls to 'specialists' and had proposed a dozen experimental methods of a kind that made 'hair-brained' an understatement. And Charmy, crying his eyes out, had tried feeding Rouge a large assortment of sugary sweets to make her feel better, until Amy gently pried the grieving bee away, explaining she couldn't eat and was on an IV. Shortly afterwards, the Chaotix had camped out in the chao garden and sworn they wouldn't rest until they found a way to help the bat.

Vanilla had visited to check on Cream and Cheese, and when she found out what was happening when her sobbing daughter rushed into her arms, she immediately volunteered to take over Cream's place nursing Rouge, much to Amy's relief. Knuckles had to admit he was thankful to the rabbit woman. Vanilla had worked as a nurse before and no-one could do the job better than she could. Still, Vanilla was as powerless as the rest of them to finding the cause of Rogue's pain.

Powerless…

Knuckles groaned over the remains of his meal and buried his face into his knuckles as he heard Rouge scream again in the next room.

"There, there." Tails said, trying his best to sound comforting, as he patted the echidna's shoulder. Knuckles threw a wry glance at the fox out of the corner of his eye.

"You can stop fronting, Knux…" Sonic said wearily from his seat opposite him. "We all know how you feel. And we all feel the same. But what can we do? We've tried everything."

"…" Knuckles gave him a black glare. The hedgehog didn't care! How could he not care!? The rage and frustration in him boiled over and sheeted his vision with red…

Knuckles started to his feet and was about to lunge for Sonic when he felt a restraining hand on his arm.

"Pipe down, you! It's not his fault!" He saw Amy holding his arm. Knuckles started at the touch and backhanded Amy sharply in his rage, sending her tumbling over the dinner table. In a flash, Sonic was on his feet and in Knuckles' face, teeth clenched in anger. He doubled his fist and smashed it into the echidna's stomach. Knuckles' stumbled, winded, and threw an uppercut at the hedgehog's jaw, lifting him off his feet and slamming him into the opposite wall. Then he felt a solid thump as Tails flipped off his seat and threw a sharp kick into his back, sending him down on his stomach.

Tails jumped on him and held him down, but Knuckles twisted over and pounded his fists repeatedly into the fox boy's face. Tails grimaced and howled in pain, but he wouldn't let go.

"Get off of me!" Knuckles roared as Sonic rejoined the fray, kicking him in the side. "I'll kill you! I'll kill you all! I'll…"

"STOP IT!!!" The high, anguished scream pierced everyone's eardrums enough to halt them in their tracks. Vanilla was staring at them sadly from the doorway to the bedroom she and her daughter shared, and Cream, who had given vent to the shout they heard, was hugging her mother's skirt and glaring at them through teary eyes. Cheese, looking as forlorn as a chao possibly could, was floating above her and moving his head slowly from side to side.

"H-hic…" Amy, crying softly, picked herself up from behind the overturned table. Her cheek was reddened and the flesh was gouged where Knuckles' spikes had connected. Sonic hurried over and helped her up.

The sight smacked Knuckles' eyes and brought him back to himself. He looked down and opened his mouth to speak, but then his face twisted into terror and he flung Tails off and ran into the next room when he heard the low moaning from their patient.

"…Knuckles…urrr…Knuckles…"

He fell to his knees, gripping the suffering bat's hand. He was vaguely aware of the others crowding around him. He knew they could see his pain, but he didn't care. He was thinking of Rouge. All those times they had met, all the times they had talked, all the times they had fought. He couldn't bear to see her this way any more.

"Knuckles…" The soft voice next to him made him open his eyes and turn to look at Amy Rose. The pink hedgehog was crying. The mark on her cheek was already starting to blacken. Shame crashed into Knuckles like a boulder. The pink hedgehog had nursed Rouge and cared for her all this time and how had he repaid her?

"I'm sorry, Amy…" he muttered, wishing the hedgehog would give him a mercy bash with her hammer.

She slowly smiled, tears glistening down her face. "It's alright. I understand."

Knuckles cast his eyes down again. Amy was kind, and that kindness hurt him even more than any hammer blow could. He then felt Sonic next to him, who spoke up softly.

"We're all worried, buddy. But Rouge wouldn't want to see us fighting amongst ourselves, would she? She needs you now."

Knuckles groaned again, as Rouge's hand twitched in his. He remembered all the times he'd wanted to leave the Angel Island and the Master Emerald and be with her, the times she'd called him a knucklehead because he wouldn't, and even the one time when she pleaded with him to leave it and come with her.

"You've been good to her, Knuckles." Vanilla put in.

Knuckles held Rouge's hand against his muzzle. _No, I haven't,_ he thought. _But if she lives through this, I swear I always will._

They were then interrupted by the sound of the door opening. Everyone's eyes turned to the newcomer.

It was E-123 Omega, whom none of them had seen for months, barging his way in with the Chaotix still clinging to his arms in an apparently futile effort to stop him.

Omega took in the scene around him, and though he had a face incapable of expression, Knuckles could have sworn his face hardened when he saw Rouge. He spoke in a low speaker buzz.

"_So-it-happened."_

"Omega?"

"_You-will-not-like-this. But-you-must-see."_

"You know something about this, robot?" Sonic said suspiciously. Knuckles knew that all of Sonic's time fighting robot legions had given him a mistrust of all robots in general.

Omega did speak, but the twist of his shoulders showed he was angry. _"Affirmative. Though-I-am-no-longer-under-his-control-he-can-still-send-data-to-me."_

"What are you talking about?" Everyone had moved towards Omega as he stood in the doorway.

If Omega could have taken a deep breath, he probably would have done it then. _"Received-a-coded-transmission-from-miscellaneous-coordinates. I-was-afraid-this-would-happen-so-I-came-to-look-for-Rouge. But-it-seems-he-was-faster-than-me."_

"What? You mean your transmission had something to do with this?" Knuckles felt like walking over and shaking the data out of the big machine, but he was reluctant to let go of Rouge's hand.

Omega did not reply. Without a word, he walked under everyone's stares over to Tail's large TV monitor propped on a stand in the corner. He unplugged a data cable from his midsection and inserted it into the monitor. The big screen flickered and whirred into life as Omega stood straight next to it.

"_Replaying-transmission."_

The room fell silent and all eyes were on the monitor.

At first there was only static, then slowly, a picture came into view. A face all of them knew and hated, and a voice that each and every anthropomorph in the room was heartily sick of.

"_Muwuhahaha! How are you, my dear enemies?"_

"Eggman!" Knuckles growled, clenching his free fist.

It was indeed Dr. Eggman. Fat, ugly, and bald as ever leering at the screen from behind his dark spectacles, carrot nose, and bushy moustache.

"_I do believe that our poor little batgirl might be feeling a little sick right about now. Sad. How tragic. Perhaps she caught something in the midst of her meddling in my plans. It's amazing how many little things one can pick up playing with my little robots. Don't you agree, Knuckles?"_

With a jolt from both parties, both Sonic and Knuckles realized that Eggman's message was not for Sonic, as these long-winded rambling missives usually were, but for Knuckles. Sonic turned and stared at him, and then back to the screen.

"_Oh yes, I know you're there, Knuckles. After your little performance on board the ark, I had a hunch that you might be present should anything happen to Rouge. Who knows what kind of trouble she'll get into without you around! Muwuhahaha!"_ Eggman's visage hooted with laughter.

Knuckles clenched his fist, partly out of the desire to drive it through the monitor to shut Eggman up, and partly because even that bloated old dimwit suspected something about him and Rouge.

_Am I really that obvious?_ Knuckles thought, a light blush spreading across his muzzle. It seemed that ever since he was a puggle, others could tell exactly what he was thinking.

"_Well then, my hated enemies, I am not entirely without sympathy, even if it is for a treacherous little wench like Rouge. Knuckles, I might just know of a way to help her. Why don't you come and pay me a visit and we can discuss Rouge's condition. Come alone to the coordinates that Omega received in this transmission, and we shall talk. I look forward to seeing you soon! Muwuhahaha!"_

With one final stupid-sounding horse laugh, Eggman's visage wavered and vanished from the monitor.

Everyone was silent for a few seconds.

"It must be a trap…" Sonic said slowly. "Eggman's just trying to trick us into an ambush."

"But Sonic, how would Eggman know about Rouge?" Tails asked, flicking his twin tails as he always did when he was thinking.

"That's simple enough…" Knuckles growled, baring his teeth. "He's the one behind it."

Sonic shook his head. "You know ol' Eggbrain wouldn't even be able to pull that off. A mad scientist he may be, but he can't magically make anyone sick over a great distance."

"But Sonic, we have to do something to help Rogue, don't we?" Amy put in quietly.

Everyone turned and stared at the young pink hedgehog. It was rare for her to make any kind of disagreement at all with her speedy obsession, and even when she did it was usually accompanied by a tantrum and the swinging of an enormous hammer. But no, Amy was just standing there, shuffling her feet with her eyes cast down. She obviously didn't want to meet Sonic's gaze.

"Sonic, maybe Knuckles should go. Alone, like Eggman said. Maybe, just maybe, Eggman can stop Rouge's pain. If he can't, well…" Her pleading gaze then turned to Knuckles for support.

"I can take care of myself!" Knuckles growled.

There were gradual nods of agreement as Sonic looked around the room.

Vanilla spread her arms. "We've tried everything else, Sonic. If there's even a chance that Dr. Eggman can cure Rouge, we have to go along with him. It may be her only chance." She pointed to the softly moaning, almost furless bat to emphasize her point.

Sonic sighed. "I can see I'm gonna be outdone. Okay, Knux, maybe you should go to him. But we won't be far away, okay?"

Knuckles was normally against Sonic's babysitting ideas, but this time he sent the hedgehog a grateful look. Having friends nearby would mean less time in getting Rouge's cure to them.

Tails nodded too. "Alright then. When do we leave, Knuckles?"

"Immediately." Sonic and Knuckles said together, drawing a frown from the echidna, and a smirk from the hedgehog.

"Get the Tornado ready, Tails. Omega, where are the coordinates?"

Omega had remained silent through their exchange, but now as he retracted his data cable, Knuckles could sense disapproval in the big robot's movement. He swiveled his optic sensors to face Knuckles.

"_There-is-low-probability-of-Dr-Eggman-possessing-any-cure-Knuckles."_

"I know that, but we have to try. I think you don't want Rouge to suffer either do you, Omega?"

"_Negative. Transmission-received-at-0837-from-location-63-41."_

Knuckles nodded, and then cleared his throat. "Everyone, could you give Rouge and I a moment alone?"

There was a pause at this, but slowly Cream tugged on Tails' arm and beckoned him to follow her. Slowly, everyone else followed suit. Omega was the last to leave, swiveling his head to look at the sick bat before walking into the hangar.

When he was sure everyone was out of earshot, he turned to look down at the comatose bat, her hand still gripped in his. The thought of seeing Rouge like this any longer was unbearable. Knuckles swore to himself, then and there, that he would cure her, and then he'd make sure he was never in danger of losing her again…ever.

He squeezed her hand softly and turned.

* * *

'_Identity confirmed: Knuckles the Echidna. Authorized entry granted.'_

The computer screen went blank and the huge metal doors to the base parted and slid apart.

At least, Knuckles thought, the fact that Eggman still possessed Knuckles' data from when he had worked with him was useful on this occasion.

He glanced back to where he knew his friends were hiding in the foliage nearby before entering Eggman's new base, hidden deep within the forest.

As he expected, no sooner had he entered than the door slammed shut behind him. A dozen ports opened in the metal ceiling above and several dozen robots slammed down onto the floor to greet him. But they were not attacking. Yet.

Knuckles glared at the leering metal monstrosities before slowly raising his hands.

A familiar voice buzzed slowly from a speaker on the wall.

"_Ah, Knuckles. Welcome, welcome! I was expecting you to drop by."_

"You know why I'm here, Eggman. Where's the cure?"

"_All in good time, my little red friend. Please kindly follow my robot escort now and we will discuss your batgirl's condition."_

Knuckles groaned inwardly. He knew Eggman well enough to know it wouldn't be that simple. The bloated old fool was probably going to make some ludicrous demand of Knuckles or try to dump some new collection of lies into the echidna's ear. Even now, Knuckles cursed himself for all the times he'd been stupid enough to listen to Dr. Eggman. At his age, he was a full-grown echidna, but he knew as well as anyone, however little he liked it, that his life of near-solitude had left him in many ways still a freshly-hatched puggle.

But he squared his shoulders as and strode off with the robots unhappily.

* * *

"Ah, Knuckles. How nice to see you."

Dr. Eggman grinned insanely as he stared at the echidna in the master computer room. Knuckles was a little surprised he had not been shackled or ordered into a capsule or some other form of restraint. He was literally inches from Dr. Eggman right now and there was nothing to stop him from lifting his fist and planting it in Eggman's face.

In fact, Knuckles had half a mind to do that right now to get his point across that he was in no mood for word games.

The scientist just looked on for a moment before turning away from the echidna and walking into his large command chair before the computer screen and beginning to input commands. "You know, echidna, I've been doing a lot of thinking…"

Knuckles bit back a smart remark, partly because the joke was just too old and partly because Eggman's rustbucket bodyguards were still behind him.

"…I've been thinking about you…"

Knuckles decided to break his silence.

"We're not here to talk about me, Eggman!"

Eggman turned in his seat and looked at him. Knuckles was struck, once again, just how inhuman this particular human was. The truth about Eggman's shape and his features had come out some months earlier as having been the result of congenital birth defects which altered his body. Dr. Ivo Robotnik must have liked the fact that he appeared different from most other humans, given his desire to be seen as a terrible ruler, and thus, he too used the nickname for himself that others had come to use: Eggman, in reference to his shape.

"That I know only too well, Knuckles. But please be a courteous guest and hear me out. We wouldn't want to get too excited right now, would we?" he asked, grinning at the guns pointed at Knuckles' back.

"Anyway, as I said, I've been thinking about you, and about your duty. It seems strange you know, that you are bound by honor to remain on the Angel Island and yet you find the time to come and aid that annoying hedgehog in his attacks against me…"

A large map came up on the computer screen, followed by a digital picture of an anthropomorph. Knuckles started as he saw. The map was showing a blip in the area of the continent they were now, and…the picture was him, standing as he was now with his arms folded.

Knuckles slowly raised one hand, and the digital picture on the screen slowly copied him.

Eggman turned and looked Knuckles again. "Unless I'm not much mistaken, echidna, you still have the chip I planted into your arm to help you, am I right?"

Knuckles stared, and then brought his left arm up to his face. It was true. A couple of years ago when Eggman had first arrived on the Angel Island and set Knuckles on Sonic and Tails, he had said he would help the echidna by planting a chip in his arm so he would know where he was when he had helpful information. Knuckles had accepted without a second thought.

But all along it had turned out that Eggman had planted the chip in Knuckles just to make sure that the echidna was a long way away when he made his move to steal the Master Emerald. And had it not been for the intervention of Sonic, he would have succeeded. After the final destruction of his cheap Death Star rip-off, Knuckles had assumed that the chip would do Eggman no more good, but now…

Knuckles stared at his arm. All this time…Eggman had been able to check Knuckles' location anytime he wished with the touch of a button. No doubt about it, after this was over, he would have to ask Tails to find a way to extricate the chip from his arm. He had asked before, but when Tails scanned the arm, it appeared that the chip was lodged too deeply into Knuckles' arm to make an accurate determination of its position. And not only that, but if Tails knew Eggman's locator chips, and he did because of Eggman's former use of live animals as cores for his robots, they would likely detonate and take their host along with them if someone tried to remove them.

After a while, Knuckles had just shrugged it off and decided to forget the chip. And now he knew that had been a bad decision.

Eggman grinned again as he saw Knuckles' reaction. "I thought so. Oh, and don't bother trying to remove it. If it's moved from its position you know what will happen. Heh heh. I'm afraid I will always know where you are, echidna…"

Knuckles clenched his fist and looked back to him. "You still haven't answered the question I came to ask, Eggman!" Knuckles endeavored to remain patient.

"Well, you see, I appears that I am not the only one who possesses this kind of technology. From the data I stole from their mainframe during the alien invasion, I found out that GUN also possesses the technology needed to create these locator chips. And can you guess with whom they implanted them?" He smiled sickeningly, and without waiting for the echidna's answer he continued. "Why, their troops of course, including their secret agents. Of course, they would always need to know where they are."

Now Knuckles was really impatient. "So what, Eggman?! I don't want to get-!"

"SILENCE!!!" Eggman roared, suddenly looking angry in the first display of temper he had shown so far. To emphasize his command, Knuckles heard the ghastly clicking of guns being trained once again on his back.

Knuckles glared at Eggman, who was glaring right back, his neck a brilliant shade of red.

"You blasted anthropomorphs always interrupt my most glamorous plots whenever I reveal them, echidna." He wheezed in something like an attempt at a growl. "Perhaps you would like me to show you exactly what you're dealing with?"

Eggman turned back to his console and flicked another switch. The screen shifted to another image, and – Knuckles' heart leapt into his throat – it was Rouge, lying just as he had left her, shown in her exact location in Tails' workshop. She seemed to be sleeping at the moment, breathing shallowly and not in much pain.

But then Eggman grabbed and roughly pulled a large, red lever on the console.

Immediately, a fat bar, beginning in the green, and then shooting up into yellow and red, fell across the screen, and the image of Rouge began to thrash and twist in agony. There was no sound in the machine, but Knuckles was sure she was screaming.

Knuckles gaped in horror as Eggman grinned evilly, and slowly, with almost a gentle caress, he began to pull the lever further, little by little, slowly increasing Rouge's pain. The shrunken, furless figure began to thrash more wildly, and then stopped thrashing, beginning to twitch terribly and opening her red eyes wide in a silent, unbearable torture.

Knuckles growled and his vision clouded over with red. Eggman! He did it all. To hell with the robots! He was going to tear Eggman limb from limb!

But when Eggman saw the angry echidna start forward, he hissed and poised his finger over a console. "Shall I blind her, Knuckles?! Shall I liquify her organs and turn her brain to mush?! _That's what'll happen if you take one more step!_"

Knuckles' vision cleared and he felt his knees go weak. He stopped and then was aware of the guards moving closer behind him, ready for any quick moves.

At that, Eggman let Rouge suffer for another couple of moments, staring at the screen with a revolting look of enjoyment on his face, before he slowly eased the lever up. The bar on the screen fell back to midway, and the figure of Rouge still twitched, but not as badly.

"So you see, Knuckles…" he then said turning back to him, amiably and with all trace of his anger gone. "I have discovered the frequency of Rouge's chip and I have managed to gain control of it mechanism. Oh, I couldn't do this directly of course, I had to route the signal through a chip of my own. Luckily enough, the chip systems I use are similar enough to GUN's that I can hope to use one of my own subjects bearing that circuit to route a signal to Rouge's, once I knew its frequency. And now her chip is under my control."

Ha paused, seeing the color drain from Knuckles' face.

"As you might have figured out, echidna…" Eggman said, grinning. "Rouge was indeed a spy working for GUN, but with the destruction of many of their strongholds and loss of much of their power following the alien invasion, they no longer have any control over Rouge, as they cannot discipline her by use of the pain-inducing mechanism in Rouge's chip. I, however…"

With incredible speed for such a fat man, he leaned over again and yanked the lever all the way down, and again, though there was no sound, Knuckles swore he could have heard Rouge screaming as her image thrashed on the computer screen.

Knuckles started to his feet again, but the threat of Eggman's finger again paused over the deadly console stopped him. Eggman gave a sick, twisted grin at the sight of Knuckles' impotent rage.

"It's pain…" Eggman whispered in a revoltingly happy voice. "Oh, pain, pain, pain!"

On cue, all of the robots in the room chorused along with him in the buzzing speaker voices. "_Pain, pain, pain!_"

"Stop!" Knuckles bellowed, feeling tears begin to form in his eyes. "Please stop!"

"But of course…" The evil doctor, still grinning, eased the lever back again. "I am happy you at last have seemed to pick up some manners, Knuckles. So now you understand your situation?"

"Yes…" Knuckles said miserably, relieved he was no longer torturing Rouge so much. "So what do you want from me, Eggman?"

"You catch on quickly! Yes, I want you to do a little something for me. And yes, before you ask, I will stop Rouge's pain if you do as I say…for the time being anyway."

He cleared his throat and scratched his whiskers, as if he was still deciding. "Of course, I could merely order you to kill Sonic for me…but pah, that wouldn't be any fun! He'd probably just stand there and let you kill him to save Rouge. No, I want you to do something else…"

"Two things actually. I have discovered how to duplicate GUN's pain inducer technology that they use to ensure their agents' loyalty…quite ingenious really, I should've thought of that myself…and I want you to take one of these chips…" He held a small grey computer chip up in the air. "…And plant it in a certain someone for me to ensure someone's lack of interference in my plans..."

"Sonic?" Knuckles asked, feeling a cold knot twist in his guts.

Eggman laughed, and then shook his head. "No, not him. He'd probably sooner die than obey me, no matter how much pain I put him in. No, it has to be someone else, someone special to him, just as I have the chip in someone special to you, echidna…"

Knuckles growled again, feeling is anger return at new levels. "Tails? You want me to plant it in Tails?"

Eggman blew air out his nose, ruffling his orange whiskers, and stared. "No. I want Sonic to feel the pain himself, in his heart that is."

Knuckles' eyes widened.

"Amy Rose, echidna. Amy Rose. Plant this chip in her…"

"Never…"

Eggman leaned over the console again and was about to reach for the lever when Knuckles shouted "_No!_"

The mad scientist withdrew his hand. "_Will you do it, Knuckles?!!_" The echidna didn't answer for a few moments. Eggman moved his hand again.

"_Yes!_" Knuckles clutched his head in both hands, tears flowing his face as he grit his teeth in frustration. "I'll do it! _I'll do it!_"

"Splendid…" Eggman smiled, stood and walked over to Knuckles. He held out the chip, and Knuckles, trying to hide his tears behind one hand, held out his other.

He dropped it into his hand and motioned for Knuckles to stand, which the echidna did mutely, tempted to crush the tiny gray thing in his paws right now.

"And my other demand, Knuckles…" Eggman continued quietly, and it was a bad sign when he was quiet because it meant he was being serious. "…is something you may have guessed already. I want your Master Emerald. With it, I can complete my ultimate machine and take over the whole world for myself. Then, I may complete my master plan of a perfect machine planet. You have one week to bring it to me…or…"

He walked back to his console, leaning menacingly over it. "Death will not be the worst of what she will suffer, and it will definitely be the _final _thing she suffers. I will turn her eyes to liquid, her bones to rotten sticks, and dry her internal organs to a crust! After and only after she has felt all the pain a creature has felt may she die!"

Knuckles looked down, the weight crashing into him like a two hundred ton rock.

Eggman smiled slightly, sensing Knuckles' predicament. "But I am not entirely without sympathy to how you must feel, Knuckles…" Eggman eased the lever further back, sending Rouge's pain down to minimal. He reached for a blue button and pressed it firmly.

"She will sleep, Knuckles. For now. But for every day you take, I will add a little more pain until there is no more left to give…"

"Don't take too long trying to find a way out of this, echidna…because there isn't one…" And then, as if to mark the end of all his audiences, came the laugh.

"_MUWUHAHAHA! Show our guest to the door, my creations!_"

* * *

"That's all, Knuckles?"

"Yeah…"

The red echidna sat in the chair, his head in his hands, while the others gathered around him. He sat before Rouge once again, trying not to hold the horrible thought of Eggman holding Rouge's death only an inch from his finger. She did look a little better, sleeping deeply without any thrashing or moans of pain, but Knuckles knew it would only last so long.

He felt like a prisoner being interrogated as the others: Sonic, Tails, Amy, Cream, Vanilla, the Chaotix, and Omega all stared down at him. They knew he was badly shaken.

"Knuckles, man…" Sonic said slowly, all traces of usual cockiness gone. "I know how you must feel, but…there's gotta be another way…"

Amy stared at him. "Are you going to put that in me, Knuckles?" she asked in a trembling voice as she pointed to the chip in Knuckles' hand.

The echidna shook his head frantically. "If I do…you'll end up like…like…" He was unable to continue as he broke down sobbing, surprising all the anthropomorphs in the room. None of them had ever seen Knuckles cry before.

"You don't have a choice, do you?"

Everyone whirled around, and, standing there as if his unannounced arrival was the most normal thing in the world, stood Shadow the Hedgehog.

He was leaning against the wall of the workshop, his red-tinted quills forking against the incline, staring at the sleeping form of Rouge. Though he made an effort to make his face as impassive as ever, it was plain to see from his voice that he too was concerned.

"Shadow…" Sonic appeared affronted at his rival's sudden appearance, but Knuckles laid a restraining hand on his arm and stood.

"Shadow…" Knuckles echoed, moving closer to the ebony hedgehog. "Can you help her somehow?"

Shadow turned his head and stared at the echidna, and then back to Rouge, and shook his head grimly. "I can't do anything about that chip. Either we have to do what Eggman demands, or…" He fell silent.

"'We?'"

"She's my…ally too, you know."

Knuckles felt the tears well up again in frustration, and he turned roughly towards Tails. "Tails, can't you find that chip and take it out of Rouge?! There must be a way!"

Tails sighed sadly, his ears flattening over his brow and his twin tails drooping to the floor. "I really wish I could, Knuckles. I really do. I scanned her after you told us it was a chip like yours, but…I just can't find it. The signal isn't narrow enough. And, even if I did find it…"

"…If you tried to move it then it would detonate." Knuckles said lifelessly, looking down at his arm. "I know…Eggman told me. It's like mine…"

Tails nodded slowly. Knuckles grit his teeth.

"Knuckles…" He turned again to see Amy Rose staring at him tearfully. "We don't have a choice. _You_ don't have a choice! If we don't want Rouge to suffer anymore…and I sure know _I_ don't…" Amy drew herself up, trying to put on a brave face and a solid voice. "…Then we have to do what that bloated old fool wants."

She extended her arm to him, as if telling him he could plant the chip in her, though how Knuckles was meant to do that with his bare hands was beyond him…

He shook his head frantically, snarling in anger at the pink hedgehog, just as Sonic hurried over and scooped her away, ignoring her protests.

"_No, Amy!_ Do you actually think that Eggman will keep his word? Knuckles isn't doing it!"

"Sonic, it's my decision! Let go of me! We have to save Rouge!

"_ENOUGH!_" Knuckles roared, hot with helpless rage.

He knew now what he had to do.

He would never give the Master Emerald to Eggman. To hand over the means of world domination to that mad villain would not only be signing Rouge's death warrant, but that of all the anthropomorphs and most of the humans on the planet. And he would certainly never plant the chip in Amy Rose. Never. Eggman wouldn't stop Rouge's pain, Knuckles knew that. He'd just use her to force Knuckles into more misdeeds, and he'd only add to it by putting Sonic in the same situation, not to mention most of the others, who he knew would do anything to stop seeing their friends suffer.

The pain had to end here and now.

Knuckles turned and strode over to Rouge. His heart hammered wildly in his chest and the reasoning part of his mind battled furiously with the emotional side, screaming at him that he didn't know what he was doing.

And of all the watching anthropomorphs, Shadow was the only one who must've guessed what he was thinking. He was at Knuckles' side in a heartbeat.

"And just what do you think you're going to do, Knuckles?"

Knuckles looked at him slowly out of the corner of his eye, and then shifted his gaze back to Rouge. She was sleeping now. Most of her beautiful white fur had fallen out, and lack of nourishment had reduced her to almost skin and bones, and long scratches and abrasions graced her once-flawless skin from her spasming and thrashing fits. But all the same, she still seemed to be the most beautiful thing he had ever seen as her breast rose and fell in her repose and her sweet breathing filled his ears.

And that hurt the echidna even more.

"Shadow…" he asked quietly, as though dragging out each word through all his force of will. "If I borrow your gun and shoot her…will you shoot me a moment later?"

"_No!_" Shadow growled, sounding revolted at Knuckles' suggestion.

"Dude, what the heck're you thinking?!" Sonic was then standing right beside him in the blink of an eye, ready to jump on the echidna and restrain him at any sudden move. "That's no way to save her!"

"_It's the only way, Sonic!_" Knuckles growled, turning violently on the hedgehog and punching him solidly in the chest, sending the blue hero clattering into a pile of junk on the far wall.

Knuckles flung Eggman's chip onto the floor and stamped his foot down on it, breaking the tiny torture device into pieces.

"_I won't do what that bastard wants! I won't do it! I won't! I won't! I WON'T!!!_"

Knuckles, his vision sheeted over with red and screaming in his ears, grabbed hold of Rouge's throat with his left fist, squeezing hard.

Her eyes suddenly snapped wide open, red and bloodshot, and she stared up, unseeing as Knuckles tried to squeeze the last thread of life out of her.

"_I WON'T! I WON'T!!_"

Everyone seemed to be shocked into a frozen state at what they were seeing. Knuckles the Echidna, the noble guardian of the Master Emerald, the protector of Angel Island, and hero of the Sonic Team, was about to murder Rouge the Bat right before their eyes.

"Knuckles! No!!!" Vector shouted, running towards him.

"Stop!" Cream and Cheese shouted together, starting forward.

"_DANGER! CEASE-IMMEDIATELY!_" Omega buzzed, extending his guns.

The echidna was not aware of their screams, he was aware of nothing but the painful pounding in his head as he tried to smother the last bastion of reason that was stopping him from using his full strength and crushing Rouge's throat.

Then…just for a moment…he felt a tremendous jolt run up his left forearm, and heard the hollow echo of a scream rising from Rouge's throat, and then it struck him…

_I know…_

"I know…ugh!"

Knuckles slowly let go of Rouge's throat, and, still with a wide-eyed look of surprise on his face, slumped to the floor and fell on his face unconscious.

Shadow had clubbed him on the back of the head with his gun.

* * *

The clouds slowly parted and he came back to see Amy sitting over him.

Knuckles shot bolt upright in his bed. "_I KNOW!!_"

Amy started, suddenly afraid Knuckles was going to go insane again. "Wha-! Calm down, Knuckles!"

Without paying attention to her, Knuckles leaped out of the bed and onto his feet. He didn't even bother stopping to open the bedroom door. He just smashed it down and sped into the workshop.

"STOP HIM!" Amy screamed, thinking he was going to try to kill Rouge again.

Knuckles burst through the door to Rouge's room, to be greeted by the sight of Sonic and Tails, standing guard and waiting for him.

"Take it easy, Knuckles…" Sonic said quietly, raising his hands as if trying to calm him. "Just back off…back off now…"

Knuckles didn't answer. He glanced around him.

Rouge was moaning in pain again. Her eyes were open and her think body seemed to be sinking on itself. He knew she didn't have much time left.

He pushed past Sonic and grabbed Tails before the hedgehog could stop him, drawing a yelp of alarm from the young fox. Tails tried to pull away, like he was afraid the echidna would try to kill _him _now, but Knuckles just knelt and bellowed into his face.

"_Tails!!_ I know!"

"W-what?"

"_I know how Eggman's doing this to her!_"

"Knuckles, you…"

"_The chip! My chip! The one he put in my arm! Eggman's using to transmit to Rouge's! I know!_"

"Knuckles! Calm down!" Sonic was trying to pull him away.

With a great effort, Knuckles tried to compose himself and stood up straight.

"The-…the chip! Eggman said he was using one of his own chips to transmit to Rouge's. It's mine! The chip he's using is mine! I know it!"

"What?! B-but how can you be so sure?" Tails asked in surprise.

"I felt it! When I touched her." Knuckles seized Tails again, ignoring his protests.

"_Tails! Tails, my friend! You've got to find a way to turn it off!_"

"But Knuckles-…"

The echidna dropped him. He suddenly remembered. Eggman could track Knuckles' location and read his movements. Even if Tails somehow tried to turn off the transmission from his chip to Rouge's, Eggman would know, and who knew if there would be time for his push that fatal button. Or worse, who knew if both their chips wouldn't blow both him and Rouge to pieces…

Tails got up, and Sonic backed off…seeming to have decided that Knuckles had calmed down and wasn't trying to kill anyone.

"But he'll know…"

"Knuckles…" the twin-tailed fox said sadly. "The risk is just too big. That chip is so delicate. Even if I could find a way to turn it off…"

Knuckles nodded slowly. But he knew somehow that he could use this to…what's that?

His eyes widened in fear for a minute, and he raised his left arm.

"We…have to destroy it, Tails. To sever the link from Eggman to Rouge. My chip is that link, and it has to be taken out and destroyed…"

He was aware of the rumble of everyone else coming to see what the fuss was about. Some of them looked at him in confusion.

Shadow strode over. "Knuckles…you don't understand Eggman's work. If you try to move that thing, it'll…"

"…Blow up. I know." He said quietly. "But Rouge'll be free…

Sonic suddenly struck a defensive pose again. "No way, Knuckles! We're not going to let you…"

"_Shut up, Sonic!_" Knuckles snapped, but without his usual fire. Now his tone was purely that of exasperation. "I'm not going to kill myself, but…"

"…" The room was silent for a few moments.

"Tails…" The red echidna began.

"Y-…yeah?"

"The chip has to stop somehow, right?"

"Yeah."

"And destroying it would be easy if it wasn't in my arm, right?"

"Yes, but-"

"But if I find it and try to take it out, it'll explode…"

"Yeah, that's why we can't do it." Tails exhaled, relieved to have finally have made this dead end clear to him.

Or so he thought.

"There's still a way…"

"_What?!_" Everyone except Shadow chorused at the same time.

"I can't move the chip…" Knuckles whispered. "But I can move my arm…"

Silence.

"Oh…" Shadow said, as Knuckles' idea dawned on him. "Ohhh…"

Then, slowly, everyone caught on.

Amy, who had been unusually silent until then, finally burst out. "_Knuckles!! You can't be serious!_"

"I am, Amy…" he said matter-of-factly. "The problem's in my arm, and it can't be taken out, so the whole thing's got to go…"

"_What?_" It was Vector who spoke up this time. "Knuckles, don't be so-!"

Cream looked slightly sick next to her mother, hugging Vanilla's skirt hard as she stared at Knuckles in silence. Cheese had already turned green as freshly-hatched chao and seemed to be heaving over Cream's shoulder.

"Drastic times call for drastic measures, my friend…" Espio put in quietly. "But this is foolish. _You_ may die as well as Rouge. There must be another way…"

"_There-is-no-other-way."_

Everyone turned to look at Omega.

The big robot regarded them silently for a few moments.

"_Remember-I-am-a-machine. Of-all-possible-theories-for-safe-removal-of-pain-inducing-circuit- Knuckles'-theory-is-the-only-theory-with-any-probability-of-…"_

"…Success. Yes, I know." Shadow said coolly. "Knuckles is right, everyone. It is the only way…"

The black hedgehog looked at Tails.

"Do you have any anesthetics left, Prower?"

Rouge groaned nearby from her makeshift bed, as if she could sense what was happening.

Knuckles felt a cold lump of lead settle in his guts.

* * *

He strode over to the huge blast oven in the hangar that Tails used for making fuel. Sonic, Shadow, and Tails were walking with him. They had told the others to stay behind and watch Rouge in case something went wrong. And also because Knuckles didn't want the girls and Charmy to see this. But he knew, even though Tails was young, he couldn't risk excluding him.

Tails didn't have any anesthetics left. He had used them all on Rouge. But he did have the necessary chemicals to prevent infection after…

Knuckles swallowed.

Shadow muttered quietly "You know what we'll have to do after it's…done?"

The echidna, not trusting himself to speak, just stared at the blazing port and nodded.

Sonic sighed on his other side. "Well…" he began lamely, starting to go green.

Knuckles grit his teeth and grated through the tiniest gap in his lips. "_Let's just get it over with…_"

He pulled off his left glove and handed it to Tails. "Keep this for me, will you?" The fox nodded.

Knuckles gazed at his left arm, the ridged knuckles and congenitally fused fingers, and for a second he couldn't swallow what he was about to do. But then he pictured Rouge. Lying there in pain, wasting away until she died horribly.

He hardened his heart and extended his arm in a daze. Shadow took it and pulled Knuckles over to set his forearm and elbow on the workbench next to the furnace. He held Knuckles' arm firmly, not for when it was done, but for afterwards…

Tails rummaged silently through the bag he brought, eventually pulling out a large, leather-sheathed butcher's cleaver. But no sooner had he looked at it than his faced turned white and he dropped it, starting to retch.

"I can't do it…" Tails said, turning in desperate appeal towards Sonic, who nodded and picked up the cleaver. Tails nodded gratefully and stumbled off to throw up in the corner.

Knuckles swallowed again, trying to choke down his fear. He'd never admit it, but he'd never been so afraid in his life…

_Think about Rouge, think about Rouge…_

He was so much in a daze that he didn't even notice Shadow's probing index finger on his inner elbow joint.

Shadow eventually stopped moving his finger. "Right here, Sonic…and for Pete's sake, don't botch it up!" He whispered to his blue counterpart before turning his head and looking away. Even Shadow felt a little queasy about what they were going to do.

Sonic, green in the face, unsheathed the cleaver and lifted it in both hands. He was dimly aware of Tails watching, horrified, from the far corner.

"Are you sure, Knuckles?" He asked unsteadily as he lifted the cleaver with both hands, sharp-edge out, over his head.

Half of Knuckles' mind was screaming in terror and urging him desperately to tear his arm off the bench, but the other half, the strong half, clung to the thought of Rouge suffering and tried to press that this was the only way to save her.

But Knuckles could feel his resolve weakening. In some deep, rough corners of his mind, the denial, stubbornness, and pride yelled out to him that he didn't care about the batgirl. The heck with her and her chip! Just get away!

_No, I love her._

Knuckles had told himself that for the first time when he decided he had to do this. He had repeated it to himself many times during the longest of walks to this furnace.

But some part of him said it wasn't true. Almost all of him said it was true.

And now, he had to believe it was true.

He would make it true.

_I love her. I love her. **I love her! I LOVE HER!!**_

"_I LOVE HER!!_" Knuckles suddenly roared at the top of his lungs, startling both hedgehogs.

Tears fell from Knuckles' eyes as he at last knew his feelings. In his own voice, he knew it was true.

Shadow glanced at the crying echidna, and promptly snapped his arms back over Knuckles' elbow. He nodded once at Sonic, and the blue hedgehog hesitated for only a split second before gripping the cleaver and slamming it down onto the bench with all his might.

For a second, Knuckles felt nothing at all. Then a horrible, searing pain worse than anything he had ever felt ripped right through him. There was a flash of dark red, an explosion of blood, the glimpse of Sonic doubling over and retching, the sound of a scream rising from his throat.

Then his world receded into shock and he felt nothing more as Shadow yanked him roughly off his feet and thrust his spurting elbow into the white hot furnace.

* * *

The fever did indeed set in and Knuckles fell into hell; a waking hallucination of red, painful landscape from which one might never return.

The cut had been a good one, much to Shadow's relief. The forearm had been severed, and the hedgehogs had seen a dim blip of some sort deep within the flesh before Tails had rushed back over and tossed the arm into the furnace.

There was an explosion of course, but the brainy fox had already closed the machine's port, and Eggman's explosive device had actually provided a fair bit of fuel for the Tornado…and a nice long, buckled dent in the iron.

And now Knuckles, gibbering with shock and fever, was on a cocktail of chemicals in Tails' bed.

"It should pass…" Dr. Milligan said quietly to the anthropomorph standing beside him. "What he did was very brave…"

When he received no reply, the good doctor sighed and left.

"…"

She walked over to the side of the bed and knelt. Her slender hands slowly snaked their way over the sheets, resting for a moment on the depression where his left forearm should have been, before settling themselves on his remaining hand, which was draped on his chest.

At the touch, the delirious echidna stirred, his eyes unglazing by a fraction.

"Rouge?" He whispered.

The bat, tears in her eyes, raised one of her hands and touched his cheek. "What have you done…?" She whispered, sniffing. "You…you…knucklehead!"

* * *

Days passed, but no-one left. Knuckles eventually came out of his delirium and was greeted with joy. Knuckles was happy to be back from that place where had been, but…

"Did it work?"

Sonic looked down and nodded slowly.

"Well…is she okay?"

Everyone, even Shadow, shifted their feet uncomfortably.

"Er…" The black hedgehog seemed reluctant to talk about it.

"_What happened?!_"

Sonic stepped forward. "You see, Knuckles…she's okay now. But she's kinda…guilty."

Knuckles tried to lift his left hand and punch Sonic when, to everyone's surprise, even his own, he lifted the bandaged elbow joint up in the air.

"…" An uncomfortable silence filled the room.

Knuckles was the most shocked of all. He had forgotten he no longer had a left arm. He could feel the arm. He could even feel it itching…but there was no arm there.

Suddenly, there was a low cry from the doorway behind them, and a flash of white fur and the sound of running footsteps.

The color drained from Knuckles' face and he lowered his elbow. _Was that…? Just now…?_

"Knuckles?" There was a tap on the door.

"Tails…I don't want to talk right now."

"This is important…"

"…Alright." It had been a long, painful day, and Knuckles didn't even have enough spirit to argue.

Tails strolled over to Knuckles' bedside. He glanced at the IV to make sure there was enough left to feed into the echidna. He then looked at the bedside, and then to Knuckles' face.

The echidna slowly nodded in a cool manner, and Tails sat next to him.

"…So what's up, little buddy?"

Tails smiled a little, and he held up Knuckles' left glove.

"I think you gave me a vital set of measurements I need…"

* * *

_Several days later…_

Rouge the Bat sat alone outside the workshop. Night had fallen, and she would leave, soaring away into the Mystic Ruins, but she was still too weak.

A new, fine layer of fur had sprouted around her head and face, but she had become thin and weak, and it would take a lot of feeding up and training before she could hope to face Knuckles again…

_Knuckles…_

Rouge slapped her forehead as the tears began to well again.

_That moron._

"That selfish swine!" She burst out in spite of herself.

"Rouge?"

She turned, thinking it was Shadow again, coming to try and convince her to visit that echidna, but…

Rouge went pale as she recognized her visitor. Then she began to run, flapping her wings frantically. Weakness or no weakness, she had to get away.

But she failed miserably, falling and hitting her head. Dizziness, far more than was normal, cascaded through her skull.

"Stop!" He called. "Don't do that! You just got back on your feet."

Rouge looked up and growled at him. "You should talk!" She shouted.

"…" Knuckles looked down at her, then he extended his arm, his _right arm_, much to Rouge's relief, to help her up.

She glared at him for only a minute, and then, seeing those purple orbs in his face, she burst into tears and jumped up, enfolding him a in a huge hug and planting kisses over his face. "You idiot! Knucklehead! I hate you! I'll hate you forever!"

"…" Knuckles was speechless. Couldn't the dumb batgirl make up her mind? And what was she doing wearing _lipstick_ at this time of night?

"Knuckles…" Rouge said tearfully, looking into his eyes. "How could you do what you did for me? Why?! I'm not worth what you gave!"

"You are, Rouge…" Knuckles said, saying unsteadily on his feet, still weak from fever. Rouge caught him and held him up. "You are…because…because…ahhh, you know!"

Rouge smiled weakly. "Yes, I do, knucklehead. And you know that now I'm never going to leave you alone for that."

Knuckles the Echidna said. "I hope not. Dumb batgirl."

She touched his cheek. "Stupid knucklebrain."

Then they both started to chuckle. Under the dim moonlight, Rouge's eyes widened.

_It couldn't be._

But it was.

Knuckles raised his _left hand_ and touched her shoulder. She felt the coldness of steel on her new fur.

Her eyes widened as the echidna, his face only half-visible in the darkness, pulled back his elbow and flexed a long, metallic forearm hooked into a fingerless paw at the end. The top was set with what looked like two sharp steel spikes.

She stared at the steel arm, and Knuckles actually laughed at her silence.

He extended his new arm, showing off the new knuckles. "Courtesy of Miles Prower…"

And without another word, Rouge embraced him. Never intending to let him go. Ever.

* * *

Author: And there you have it! Please leave a review! Might do another fic for this series if I get a good feedback. I've always wondered what one would do if they had a friend who needed something too hard to give. Like my good friend, Dr. Wu up in China. Apparently because some local youngsters break their teeth sharpening the grindstone (**Chinh:** Check facts), he'd developed a cheap tooth replacement. No wonder they're cheap, they're made out of bloody bamboo! Still, Dr. Wu, who has a gob full of bamboo chisels himself, believes he can plough into a steak with the best of us.

And remember, dear readers, that if you ever have to give something up for someone you love, then there's no sacrifice too large to be made.

**Chinh: **Love you all, readers!


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